WAG Question About Vendors at Meets

[FlippinLilysMom]

Hello! Our gym hosts 2-3 meets every year and our first hosted meet is coming up in early October and we are looking for ideas for vendor tables. We recently had to switch locations for where we host our meets, at our previous location we were able to make and sell food/snacks/bevs to sell and that would end up being almost 50% of our revenue, at our new location we don't get to sell concessions (they have their own food concession stand that will sell food), so to supplement for this loss of revenue we want to add in some new vendors and possibly have our own vendor tables where we can sell items. So I'm looking for ideas of vendors and things that have been sold at meets that you go to. We will have a vendor table for leotards and another one that sells jewelry and hair items and I think one that sells homemade blankets and pillow cases. Thank you!!!

 

[LGnyc]

When we were in Brestyan's Vegas, they had these cool rip kits. Got a decent amount of traffic.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Custom shirts made while you wait? Like where they have a bunch of decals printed and you choose which ones you want and the location on the shirt and they apply with a heat press while you watch.

 

[coachmolly]

At all the meets we go to the host gym/parents group sets up a table for "grams." It's basically an assortment of trinkets the parent picks out and it gets delivered to the gymnast while she is waiting for awards. Items are things like fun socks, candy, water bottles, scrunchies/headbands, stuffed animals, grip bags, pillows, whatever is cool among the 6-11 year old set (because really it's the lower level parents that eat that stuff up). The way I've seen it work is there is a big table with all the goodies spread out and a price on each, parents then pick a single item or assemble a small goodie bag (or purchase a larger basket) to fill and are given a total price. So parents can get something small like socks and a piece of candy for around $5, or go all out and spend upwards of $25 on their kid. Most of the items are simple and inexpensive- $ stores, Oriental Trading, etc. The parent workers usually do a nice job of adding ribbons and printing cute little notecards the parents can fill out and attach, and I imagine it makes tons of money during the lower level sessions. And if you have parents that are into that kind of thing, even better!

T-shirts are the big one for older kids. You can also put it out there to vendors in the community who sell products that might be of interest to the gymnast/gym parent crowd. Things like custom car/water bottle decals, medal hangers with gymnast specific designs, handmade jewelry. We were at one meet that had a local woman with a sewing business set up- she had grip bags, cosmetic bags, and tote bags with either gymnast patterns or just fun kid/tween patterns and they were a big seller.

 

[kayjaybe]

We do something similar to pp - little things to send out to the floor after the meet. It is best if you can have a variety of prices. Popular items are live flowers, colorful socks, candy (you can do little bags of hershey kisses, M&Ms or Skittles that you make yourself and then tie with a ribbon.) Fancy cookies, especially if the theme of the meet or gymnastics themed are huge.

We sell leos at every meet but I really don't think we sell many or make much profit.

I remember reading here about a gym that would raffle off "the best seat in the house" where people could buy a chance to win special seating down on the floor. This only works if you have the room for it and it would really make a difference.

Raffle baskets are another decent option. We always do a 50-50 raffle (winner gets 50% of what was collected with rest going to the gym), but we don't make much money from that.

 

[SMH]

'Shout outs' usually make a decent amount of money at our meets. $2 or $3 and you get to write a little note for your favorite gymnast, which is read out over the microphone/sound system during downtime.
There was a vendor that sold medal holders at one meet and he sold a lot.

 

[sce]

Raffles are always popular. You get the basket items donated, so your only cost is tickets. I've seen it where they have options, individual tickets $1, sets of 10 $5, and then height or arm length $10. I will say I am more willing to buy raffle tickets when the items are something my kid wants. Kids are very dissapointed to win the wine baskets or such.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Beanie Boo's or other type of stuffies.

Flowers.

Chocolate lollipops, cookies in the shape of gymmie things.

Gymnastic pins, Levels, skill, score related.

All easy to sell without an independent vendor.

 

[notthatmom]

Raffles are always popular. You get the basket items donated, so your only cost is tickets. I've seen it where they have options, individual tickets $1, sets of 10 $5, and then height or arm length $10. I will say I am more willing to buy raffle tickets when the items are something my kid wants. Kids are very dissapointed to win the wine baskets or such.

Wait, you don't let your kids drink wine?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Grown ups however love taking a chance on some wine. Personally I would have 2 colors of raffle tickets and only let adults purchase a chance on alc0hol.

 

[sce]

Grown ups however love taking a chance on some wine. Personally I would have 2 colors of raffle tickets and only let adults purchase a chance on alc0hol.

This is smart. Ours were always the same tickets and kids would win some not fun for kids stuff. At most meets I've been to, the raffle tickets are usually purchased after begging by the kids. Most parents really didn't seem that interested in spending money to maybe win something.

 

[Committed]

Photography

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

Photography

Yes, we do this in our home meet. We have a photographer and he takes pictures, you can view them on the internet with a huge watermark. If you have a nice one, you pay a certain amount of money to buy it. We always had a parent or relative of a coach/gymnast take pictures voluntarily

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

Thanks for all of the ideas! We do the fan grams (the shoutouts), we usually have a vendor that sells the t-shirts with decals and have had a vendor that does air brushing on t-shirts, winter hats, etc...I like the idea of the lollipops in the shape of a gymnast, haven't seen those sold before. Last year we had a lady come in with premade cookies and the kids got to decorate the cookies themselves, that was a huge hit (though a big mess to clean up). There is a professional sports photography vendor that comes to a lot of the meets (expensive but very, very good photos). The one thing I've never seen offered is videography service, I would totally pay for that!! We've never done raffles before, that would be another good idea. Thanks again for all of the ideas!!!

 

[notthatmom]

We did raffles at our meet last year. Many of the items were things donated from local companies (gift cards to restaurants, nail salons, hair salons etc.)
There was also a prize of a week to gym camp (which ironically if anyone from our gym won, wouldn't be able to use because they forbade the gymnasts from going)
Then each level/team "donated" a basket...each parent threw in $20 to contribute.
For example, the L3 basket was an American girl doll and some accessories, one level did a leo basket, etc.

But it worked out well, and I actually won one of the baskets!

 

[kayjaybe]

One thing about raffles & baskets - make sure it is something that people from out of the area could use. A gift card to a local salon isn't going to draw as many sales as something that the winner doesn't need to be local for.

 

[notthatmom]

One thing about raffles & baskets - make sure it is something that people from out of the area could use. A gift card to a local salon isn't going to draw as many sales as something that the winner doesn't need to be local for.

Very true..they made it clear about putting tickets in for that particular basket that it was for local companies

The way we did it was that you put your tickets in a bin for the exact basket you wanted.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Raffles - check with your state laws. Our state is very strict and limit amount of revenue to a very small (read: not worth the pain) profit without a gambling license.

 

[mommyof1]

I have seen host gyms offer a supervised play area for younger siblings. I don't know what the licensing/insurance requirements would be for that, though.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our gym doesn't host meets but I can tell you what lines I've been forced to wait in with my DD at other meets and what has made us money when we host swim meets.

Nice tervis water bottles with a gymnast silhouette and first initial of name (so they are pre-made), grip bags (one meet had a lady who embroidered on site), nicely discounted leos, photography, beanie boos that were not hugely marked up in price, gymnast key chains with first initials, and at swim meets the nice thick hoodie pullover sweatshirts seem to sell out EVERY TIME - I know we'd end up buying one at a gym meet too...

Other things to think about if you have a decent wood worker parent (ie can cut even boards and paint them) is medal racks. That can turn a nice profit because they are quite cheap to make.

Auction/raffle baskets are fun, but at least for swim, never seem to make a lot of money compared to the effort required to put the prize together...